From the Abyss of Stars Part 1

034. Strolling Through the Forbidden Zone (Part 2)

034. Strolling Through the Forbidden Zone (Part 2)

Yellow sand swirled on the ground, frost and snow connecting the sky.

What originally appeared to be a rugged and wild off-road modified vehicle now seemed as gentle and quiet as a ragdoll cat in the cold wind and sandstorm of the outer world.

Nuo Mi expertly drove the vehicle. There were no traffic rules in the outer world, and one might not encounter a living creature even after driving hundreds of kilometers. Rather than driving cautiously, it was better to rely on the vehicle's performance, step on the gas, and forcefully break through the layers of frost and sand.

Li Aozzi put down some supplies and replaced them with fuel to increase the vehicle's weight, preventing it from being blown away by strong winds.

There was no fear of flipping over; in the outer world, the vehicle was mainly on cold, compacted sand, and with a suspension system, there was little worry about flipping. But based on Li Aozzi's years of experience, if the vehicle doesn't flip, it will likely be lifted by the storm.

Supplies take up space inside the vehicle, so it's better to replace them with fuel to add weight, and the remaining fuel barrels could be traded for other items. Even if not needed, they could be made into incendiary bombs.

In the outer world, unless part of a convoy, it's usually not advisable to use headlights to avoid attracting bandits and mutated beasts.

However, Nuo Mi had good eyesight. People who could drive in the outer world generally had night vision comparable to that of beasts. As a guerrilla of the Rose Army, she had certainly undergone special training.

Additionally, the combination of sandy and icy mud made driving very fuel-intensive.

Li Aozzi had heard a joke from mechanic players: The Four Nations' tanks couldn't move in the muddy terrain of the outer world due to insufficient horsepower, often becoming paralyzed and requiring new armored vehicles for rapid marches in the outer world.

This led to the development of mechs and powered exoskeletons.

Later, due to the inefficiency of humanoid mechs—too little defense area, low efficiency, and prone to flipping over—the chassis was made lower.

But then the head of the humanoid mech became too conspicuous, prone to being shot.

So, the cockpit was moved from the head to the chest, and eventually, the head was replaced with a monitor.

It was found that humanoid feet weren't as effective as air cushions, so the contact area was increased, turning it into a structure like a hovercraft.

The resulting thing was a tank with arms and air cushion feet, dubbed mobile armor.

Though much uglier, it could indeed replace tanks for operations in the outer world.

Later, after some wars broke out among the Four Nations, it was found that this thing could only replace tanks and couldn't solve the infantry's armored vehicle problem. The vehicles still got paralyzed in the snow.

This led to mobile armor charging ahead, but infantry couldn't keep up for cover, causing their armored units to be blown up by enemy anti-tank teams.

Eventually, they started using hovercraft for infantry too.

But the hovercraft's armor was insufficient and got hit by enemy artillery.

So, they stacked cannons and armor on the hovercraft, but the power wasn't enough, so they increased the fuel tank size. The larger fuel tank meant less space for infantry, allowing only four people to drive.